Love This Pain
by Phoenix Rises
Summary: Annie has a fear of falling in love as a result of the passionate fling that left her heartbroken. Auggie is trying to help her heart mend. Will he succeed? Based on the song "Love This Pain" by Lady Antebellum. AnnieXAuggie.


**Chapter One-Boredom and frustration**

Annie Walker gave the punching bag a good few good whacks, with all her anger and frustration behind her fists. This had not been her day. There had been no field missions for her to do, so she was forced to remain behind the desk at the CIA headquarters. Being idle was something that Annie hated; personally, it was the way she had always been. Or maybe it was the mentality of a CIA agent, the paranoia that time spent stuck behind the desk, sheltered, is time wasted catching the bad guys. Annie thought it was a combination of both.

Nevertheless, the only action she could get at the moment was the punching bag that kept repetitively coming back to her. She had done all her paperwork and there was nothing left to do.

After a few moments of angry punches and a roundhouse kick to the poor punching bag, Annie heard a familiar voice.

"Frustration or boredom?"

Looking over at the door, Annie smiled as she saw her best friend, Auggie Anderson, dressed in his black sweatpants and a tight black T-shirt, his typical attire for gym activity, and a rather cheeky smirk plastered on his face.

Annie pulled the gloves from her fingers. "Combination of both, actually." This action caught her off guard. The bag had swung back in her direction and hit her rather hard on the shoulder.

"Ow!" Annie spun around and glared at the slowly swinging bag. In another act of frustration, she foolishly gave the bag an unprotected punch. Next thing she knew, she was cradling her hand and exclaiming, "Son of a-"The last word was hidden by her groan of frustration

Auggie came over to her, laughing. "Judging by the sound your hand made with the bag and your excessive swearing, I'm guessing that you attacked the bag unprotected?"

"It still amazes me that you seem to know everything." Auggie was blind, yet he seemed to be aware of everything that went on around him. Annie guessed that he had to learn to adapt to something that forced upon him. He used to be a field agent, but he lost his eyesight in a case that involved terrorism and a potentially fatal bombing. A few agents lost their lives, but Auggie was lucky enough to lose only his eyesight. Looking at her friend now, she was grateful that he did not go the way of the other agents; otherwise she would not have her best friend. It was slightly selfish, she knew, but too true to deny.

"I thought I told you time and time again that I am all powerful and all knowing," he joked, standing in front of her now. He took her sore hand gently. "Let's have a look at that," he said gently, his eyes situated just above her head.

Annie looked up at him quizzically, and after a second, Auggie seemed to come to the same conclusion as she did. "Bad choice of language," he smirked, and she grinned back.

He applied gentle pressure to her fingers, and felt along for any fractures or breaks. "You seem to be fine. There may be a bit of bruising, but no breaks or fractures. You must have put a bit of effort behind the punch. Did you tuck your thumb in?"

Annie smiled."Yep. You know me. I never do anything half way."

Auggie laughed. "Oh I know."

Annie chuckled in response. This was something she loved about Auggie. No matter the crappy kind of day she had or no matter how she tried to hide it, Auggie always seemed to know that something was wrong with her, and he always made her smile, despite how pissed she was.

"You know you are way too perceptive for your own good," she told him teasingly.

Auggie shrugged. "Meh. It's a talent that I subtly acquired over the years."

"Clearly."

"Anyway, what's got you all worked up?" Auggie asked, still standing unusually close to her, her sore hand still in his. Annie suddenly became aware of how close Auggie's body was to hers. She felt her heart skip a beat. _What the heck? _She thought, confused with her bodily reactions caused by his close proximity.

"Uh, just bored about being stuck in the office and not in the field. Hence the frustration," she replied, lightly tugging her fingers out of his hand. Her unexpected emotions had caught her off guard and that was something she knew she could not do. Rule number one of being a CIA agent was never let your emotions get the best of you. She had learnt that the hard way.

Annie thought she saw a flicker of confusion cross over Auggie's face, but he smiled and leaned against the nearest table top. "Yeah, that can make you go slightly crazy. I remember when I used to feel exactly the same, you know, before I lost my handy dandy eyesight." Annie was still kind of shocked that Auggie could be so blasé about his disability.

"I used to go stir crazy just sitting behind the desk when there could have been work to be done. I think it's the withdrawal from the adrenaline that pumps through you when you're on a mission."

Annie nodded. "Yeah, I can believe that. I think I'm also not suited to this kind of lifestyle. Sitting behind a desk, doing paperwork."

"Who in this office is?" Auggie grinned at her.

"Well, you seem to be doing okay, being stuck in this building," Annie said, her hands on her hips, looking at him expectantly. She knew he couldn't see this, but she certainly knew he could sense her attitude.

"Well, that's because I had no choice but to get used to a situation that I had no control over."

Annie knew that Auggie had a valid point. "True that."

Auggie looked in her general direction and winked. "Auggie: One, Annie: Zero," he teased.

"Shut up," Annie grinned, shoving him lightly. It did no good. He didn't budge.

"Anyway, there is a bright side to your extreme boredom."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"Why, you get to see me of course!"

That made Annie laughed. "And thank God. I don't know if I could get through the day without your smart arse comments," she teased.

"I aim to please, ma'am," he smirked.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Annie cleared her throat. "Well, how about we get out of these clothes, get dressed into our normal _attire_," he said in a posh voice, "and shamelessly hit the tavern?"

Annie chuckled. "Sounds perfect."

Auggie smiled in response and held out his arm formally. Annie linked her arm with his and lead him out of the gym room.


End file.
